USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Stratford > History of the town of Stratford, New Hampshire, 1773-1925 > Part 19
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V. E. Beecher, William Brooks, C. J. French, Charles Shoff, will build your house, paint and paper it to suit; you need not fear to employ them; they do what they say. A mile and a half down the road, and the Granite State stock farm will show you as nice an assortment of young driving horses as you are apt to meet. Still further down the road are the shops of Jabez Alger the well known millwright and carriage builder.
The village schools are presided over by the Misses Noble, now in their third term, and giving a thorough training to their pupils, while the spiritual needs of the community are looked after by Rev. Fr. Desmond and Rev. J. S. Brown. .
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Returning for a farewell glance at the business interests of Stratford Hollow, we find a condition of things that would make the pioneer settlers open their eyes in surprise and ex- claim "we builded better than we knew," could they revisit the scene of their early labors and hardships. The neat ap- pearance of the homes, the remodelled stores and residences of W. R. Brown, Fred J. Taylor, W. H. Kimball, the spacious Library hall, the to all intents and purposes new church, large schoolhouse, and the lumber-laden vehicles on their way to the cars, presents a picture of New England thrift and industry pleasing to contemplate.
In the fall of 1896 W. R. Danforth became the owner of the interest of W. H. Kimball in the Turner Falls Co. property and has in addition to his North Stratford business, carried on the lumber trade here.
The following is a list of the business of the Hollow for the year 1898:
Lumber: F. N. Day, W. H. Kimball, W. R. Danforth, David Stone, Daniel Dennis.
Grist Mill: Alvin G. French.
General Traders: W. R. Brown, Fred J. Taylor, Noah Waters.
Blacksmith : George Hardy.
Shoemaker and Hulled Corn Manufacturer: George B. Hall.
Station and Express Agent: George E. Twohey.
Millwright: Willard D. Stinson.
Contractor: Alvin L. Wheeler.
Hotel: Michael Dowd.
Post Office: Fred J. Taylor.
This is the story of the first fifty years in the development of the business life of North Stratford. A time of intense activity, at- tended by the vices and disorder that are usually found in a rail- road village, with lumber interests; for this was a period of great lumbering activities throughout the town. Long teams of fine horses or oxen drew the immense logs from the hillsides. Mills were running to their fullest capacity, while down the river were floated the great drives of logs. This brought to North Stratford every spring the river-drivers, when drunkenness and disorder reigned until the river broke up, and the formidable jams of ice and logs claimed the attention of every man. As the years went on, and the men who had come here to make a living became more firmly established in their business, they grew less absorbed in their own affairs, and turned their attention more to controlling
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the evil, and bringing better influences to bear in the community. There also sprung up the Reform Clubs, that wonderful move- ment that swept through the country, and aroused the public con- science to the evils of intemperance. Stratford, having suffered so severely, welcomed this movement with open arms. Perhaps no other undertaking was received more gladly and unanimously than the Reform Club in Stratford. All creeds and conditions of men united in the work, and a great impetus towards civic right- eousness was given. The organization of this movement was in 1876. Governor Cheney, in his second inaugural message, said: "At no time probably in the history of the state has the public conscience been so thoroughly aroused to the great evil of intem- perance. In no equal period have so many citizens of this state taken upon themselves a solemn pledge to abstain from that which intoxicates." What was true of the state was especially true of Stratford. Month after month men came forward and signed the pledge, many of whom never lapsed back to their old habits. Others were strengthened for the time being. The Good Tem- plars and the Women's Christian Temperance Union followed. More stringent laws were made and enforced. And before the century closed, intemperance and the open saloon were controlled in a measure that would have been deemed impossible in the years preceding. In those years of struggle and uplift there was united effort on the part of those engaged in it, a strong community spirit was aroused and prevailed, and a village emerged where order and civic righteousness was sought after and maintained. The several fraternal orders have been strong factors in bringing about this unity. The Knights of Honor was the first to come, and was composed of the leading men of the town, and many business en- terprises were promoted by them. The Knights of Pythias carried out their principles of brotherhood, in the building up of their own community interests, in providing public places of meet- ing, opening their rooms to the public benefit, and in bringing to this little village the best talent in the country for lectures and musical entertainments, to be greeted by large and enthusiastic audiences that had been brought in here by special trains. The unity and harmony that prevailed among its promoters made such undertakings possible. Perhaps we might say that harmony and friendliness have been always characteristics of North Stratford. This has shown itself in the Church as well as in secular affairs;
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there have been no Church quarrels; her ministers have been good citizens as well as preachers, and have heartily united with the public in community betterment. Those years of struggle and self-sacrifice on the part of North Stratford's citizens have been bearing their fruit in these last twenty-five years. Because of their efforts a later generation is entering a new era of public life, amid surroundings and comforts unknown to their fathers.
Twenty-five years ago an automobile was rarely seen on these streets, their infrequent appearance causing great alarm to both horses and drivers. The first automobile owned in town was a little red Oldsmobile belonging to Albert Morse, having so little power that it had to be assisted up the hills. The second was a Stanley steamer, owned by Freeman Willard, and its eccentricities are still remembered. By contrast, Stratford's registry of auto- mobiles and trucks for 1924 was 254.
The first electricity manufactured for lighting purposes in this vicinity was at the Nulhegan Mills, in 1892, and private lines brought it across the river to the stores of J. C. Hutchins and A. Kugelman in 1900. The Lyman Falls Power Company was or- ganized July 1, 1903, and the electric plant, situated on the Con- necticut River, two miles north of the village, was furnishing elec- tricity to Groveton November 1, 1904. The village of North Stratford began to receive its lighting service in 1906. Street lighting was an expenditure that was evidently long considered, as the attention of the voters was called to it in several town-meeting warrants before an appropriation was made. A few kerosene lamps on posts had been set up by individuals, either by the side- walks or near doorways, and these furnished what street lighting the village had until that time. The annual appropriation was $250 until 1911, when it was increased to $350. In 1922 Stratford Hollow's streets were lighted, and the town's electric light bill for 1923 was $856. Private lines have been extended a couple of miles down from North Stratford, and the same distance up from Stratford Hollow, to provide lighting for the homes of the farmers; and it is but a question of time when Stratford's main highway will be lighted from one end of the town to the other.
The first telephone to be installed in Stratford was in operation in 1887, in Hutchins' drug store, as a pay station. This was the Upper Coös Telephone Company, J. H. Dudley, president. This line connected Stratford with Colebrook and Stewartstown. On
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the removal of Mr. Hutchins to the Merriam store, the telephone service was continued there, and the central office was located in a room in the rear of the store until July, 1920, when it was removed to the building now occupied on River Street. At this time (1925) some one hundred families and places of business have telephone service in Stratford. The Coös Telephone Company, chartered in 1905 by the state of New Hampshire, consolidated all exist- ing lines, and during the next ten years several independent and farmers' lines were connected and purchased by that com- pany.
The question of sidewalks was long agitated before North Strat- ford secured her fine walks. Concrete walks had been built about residences at individual expense, but sidewalks were still lacking. At last it was decided to expend the money known as the "Laura Johnson Fund" (a legacy left the town by Laura Johnson, widow of William Johnson, and long a resident here) in sidewalks for North Stratford, and an equal amount on a building that should be used for a library at Stratford Hollow, while at the same time providing a parsonage for the local pastor, who should care for the library in consideration of the rent of the home. The legacy of $2,369.72, .which was left the town in 1906, had amounted to $3,565.06 in 1916. As the terms of the will were rather vague, a decision in regard to the disposition of the legacy had not been easily arrived at, and the question was agitated for several years. It was finally decided that the amount be equally divided between the two villages as already stated. Additional walks have since been laid in both villages, so that they are now well provided for in this respect. In 1922 the town voted to extend the walk to the property of the New Hampshire Stave and Heading Mill Com- pany, provided the company would construct a walk from that point southeast to the town building at the foot of Stone Hill. The contract of the town has been completed, but the company has yet to redeem its pledge.
On Christmas, 1919, North Stratford was again visited by a ter- rible conflagration that threatened to sweep the little village out of existence. Only the light snow that covered the roofs, and the shifting of the wind at a critical moment, aided the men who were fighting it without an engine and without adequate hose and hy- drant service. The fire started in the rear of a tenement over John Taylor's store on Bridge Street, at about two o'clock in the
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morning, and was discovered and the alarm given by the operator at the G. T. R. Station. It had gained such headway that the Hotel Atkinson, the restaurant just south, and barn in the rear, were soon in flames, while on the other side of the store was the block occupied by W. F. Nugent, as a store and dwelling, to be added to the general destruction. Only by the greatest effort were the adjacent buildings and those on the opposite side of the street saved. Mr. Taylor had just stocked up with barrels of kerosene, and a large quantity of coke was in the cellar, which added to the fierceness of the heat, which was so intense that the windows of Hutchins Block and other nearby buildings were cracked, and men on the roofs received severe burns. Flaming cinders whirled through the streets, and some were found half burned two miles away. Electric lights were put out of service for several days. A fire company from Island Pond was sum- moned, but did not arrive until the damage was done, and assist- ance not required. The fire raged for two hours and a half, at the end of which time every timber had fallen and been consumed. Four families were rendered homeless: W. F. Nugent's, Mr. Routhier's, who lived over Taylor's store, Carrol Nugent's, who lived over the restaurant owned by Hazen Curtis; while the family of Edward Daley was driven from Hotel Atkinson, the burning of which deprived North Stratford of its only hotel.
In the warrant for the town meeting of the following March we are not surprised to find an article calling for an adequate water supply and fire protection. This was made doubly necessary by the coming of the New Hampshire Stave and Heading Mill. At the town meeting in 1920 it was voted to raise $70,000 for the purchase of existing water rights, their extension, and the con- struction of a reservoir sufficient for the future requirements of the village. Work was begun, according to careful surveys; a reser- voir of 2,500,000 gallons capacity was built on Kimball Brook, one mile from the highway. One mile of ten-inch pipe carries this water to the main street, where it connects with eight-inch pipe running to the side streets, where six-inch pipes supply the current for house connection and hydrants. In 1921 a further appropria- tion of $45,000 was made for the completion of this system, and the whole enterprise was financed by the issuance of bonds, to be retired at the rate of $3,000 annually. The work of laying this water system was done by J. M. Swan & Son. Thirty-five hy-
THE NEW HAMPSHIRE STAVE AND HEADING MILL
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drants supply the demands in case of fire; the pressure on the lower streets being 125 pounds, while on the highest hill in the village the pressure is 68 pounds.
In 1922 the fire station was built, as a part of the municipal building, at an expense of $655.48, and this is equipped with a chemical engine, hose and hook and ladder trucks, costing $652.92. The ease and efficiency with which the few serious fires, which have occurred since the instalment of this water system, have been handled, have fully demonstrated the adequacy of North Stratford's fire protection.
The New Hampshire Stave and Heading Mill Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the state, with a capitali- zation of $1,000,000, purchased from the Connecticut Valley Lum- ber Company all of the hard and soft wood stumpage on a tract of 87,000 acres owned by that company in the towns of Granby, Maidstone, Brunswick, Bloomfield, Ferdinand, Averill, Lewis, and Lemington, in Essex County, Vermont. They also acquired by purchase in fee simple 1,565 additional from the Vermont Products Company situated in Lewis, Averill, Brighton, Avery's Gore, and Holland, in Essex County, Vermont. The owners and promoters of this vast enterprise were the Warner Sugar Refining Company of New York City. The purpose of the purchase was to manufacture sugar barrels for the New York company and to supply the open market for other buyers. The town of Stratford, through the Stratford Board of Trade, gave nearly fifty acres of land, at a cost of $19,316.32, from the Baldwin and Rowell mead- ows, upon which to erect factories and mills. On April 10, 1920, the first stake in the survey of the site was driven under the direc- tion of Charles A. Ridlon, superintendent of the company. Since that date there has arisen on this spot the largest and most modern barrel factory in the United States, consuming 15,000,000 board feet of hard-wood logs annually. In addition to this they have erected a sawmill which has a capacity of 40,000 feet per day. They have since purchased the Hartshorn and Rowell farms, lying adjacent, and in addition to the mills, machine shops, roundhouse, storehouse, boiler rooms, and crozer and jointing mill, they have erected sheds for the drying and storing of staves, one and a half miles in length, a shipping and storing house 1,200 feet long. They have also erected dwellings for sixty families, one brick office, and a modern boarding house. They have constructed
A
PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF NORTH STRATFORD Railroad and Monument Square, North Stratford K. of P. Block and Fountain Hutchins Block and Clark & Cheney Block The Stratford
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eighteen miles of logging railroad and equipped it with logger's trucks, log loaders, and three logging engines. When the mill is run to capacity, and the wood operations are in full swing, one thousand men are on the pay-roll. This has brought many ex- cellent families to the town, and increased the population, as well as the material prosperity of Stratford. On December 19, 1919, the Board of Trade voted that it was the sense of its members that this corporation should be exempt from local taxation for a period of ten years. This vote was confirmed by the citizens at the town meeting in March, 1920.
During the years 1920-23 many business blocks and dwelling houses were erected in the village of North Stratford to care for the increasing population. This was rendered especially impera- tive because of the recent destructive fires, which had taken hotel, restaurant, stores and dwellings. The new industry brought to the little village people seeking homes and places in which to do business. Provision must be made for them. Private homes were opened for the accommodation of strangers, temporary buildings were put up until more substantial ones could be erected, and an intense activity pervaded our quiet streets.
In 1923 the village found itself ready to celebrate the one hun- dred and fiftieth anniversary of Stratford, with its business in- terests well housed, and with many new and attractive features that add to its prosperity and beauty. New walks have been built, and through the streets ranged those long-desired hydrants for fire protection and indicative of the plenteous streams flowing beneath, while in the town building stood the chemical engine and the trucks. Perhaps the most notable asset in the improvement of the village was the laying out of the little park and the rear- rangement of the Grand Trunk tracks and station, at a cost of some $100,000. There was also the band stand, where North Stratford's band of twenty pieces gave its concerts. Beside it stood the seventy-five-foot flagpole, while across the street were the seats for the benefit of the outdoor audience. Post-Office Square had its little triangular park with its soldiers' monument, a fitting adjunct to the beauty of the railroad park with its flowers and shrubs and fountain; the two giving a delightful bit of green- ery and coolness to the old-time dusty square.
Inside the post-office a wonderful transformation had taken place, for here had been installed an equipment for carrying on the
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large business of this office rarely found outside the cities and large towns of the state.
Back of the schoolhouse, on the hill east of the village, lies the Memorial Field, whose approach is marked by its granite boulder, bearing this inscription :
1921 MEMORIAL FIELD DEDICATED TO THOSE WHO SERVED IN THE WORLD WAR
Near this boulder stands a large field gun, inscribed: 1923 PRESENTED TO THE TOWN OF 1
STRATFORD, N. H. . BY THE WAR DEPARTMENT WASHINGTON, D. C. IN COMMEMORATION OF HER SONS AND DAUGHTERS WHO SERVED THEIR COUNTRY IN PREVIOUS WARS
This gun is mounted on a cement base, and can be seen from al- most all points in the village. The Memorial Field has been laid out in a natural amphitheatre, which, with its background of hills, has been the scene of many athletic contests, and formed the ex- quisite setting for Stratford's Historical Pageant. To this fine playground of the citizens, Mrs. Flora Baldwin and her children presented, in 1921, an additional acre and a half for a park, which has been planted with seedling pine.
RAILROADS Grand Trunk Railway
The inland city of Montreal has always coveted a winter sea- port on the Atlantic coast. The river St. Lawrence furnishes her an outlet by the northern port of Quebec, whose frozen harbor renders her unavailable through many months of the year.
The beautiful harbor of Portland, Maine, seemed the most desirable seaport for carrying on Canada's foreign trade through the months when her other ports were closed, and on February 10, 1845, the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad was chartered,
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and construction of the road commenced in July, 1846. A. C. Morton was the chief engineer, and James Hall, civil engineer.
The construction of the Portland division and the Montreal division began at about the same time. The contractors for the former were Wood, Black and Company. John M. Wood was the contractor to the line. Boggs, Nevins, Evans, Fairbanks, Morgan, Carter and Jackson were sub-contractors. Fairbanks had charge of the construction in the northern part of the town. Robert R. Thompson was the civil engineer. The bridge at North Stratford was built by Nathaniel Piper. The distance from Portland to Island Pond is 14972 miles, and from Island Pond to Montreal is 14734 miles; fifty-four miles lie in this state.
This road was leased by the Grand Trunk Railway in 1853, at a rental of six per cent upon the cost of construction, or $6,003,900. In order to get possession of an existing charter covering the ground, it pledged itself to construct a branch to Lancaster. It broke its pledge, and appeal was taken to the Legislature, but a compromise was effected by payment of $18,000 to the citizens of Lancaster, who, after reimbursing a few people for money spent in trying to secure the road, used the balance, about $15,000, in building the Lancaster House. This road was completed to Gorham in 1850, the trains beginning to run regularly to and from Portland on the fourth of July, 1851. Trains ran to Northumberland and North Stratford from Gorham in 1852; to Island Pond, Vt., in 1853; connecting with the St. Lawrence and Atlantic at the Canadian boundary in July, 1853. Through traffic from Portland to Montreal, July 18, 1853. (This paragraph is quoted from the "Coös County History," in which the date of incorporation is placed at 1847.)
W. P. Preble was president at the commencement of the road, and S. T. Courser, superintendent. The cars came into Island Pond, January, 1853. This account is taken from the Essex County Herald from the history of Brighton by N. P. Bowman:
The road was not ballasted for some distance from this point, but the ties were laid on the snow. When the train arrived at North Stratford it began to snow. From that point it labored up the heavy grade, and a portion of the train was left, and the men proceeded with tender and engine to Wenlock, where they were obliged to leave the tender, and from there they came to Hobson's Mills when the water gave out. C. W. Mayer, the engineer, remained with the engine while Conductor Tuttle came to Island Pond village on foot, about four miles, through immense drifts of snow, to
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report the situation to Superintendent Courser, who re- turned on foot with a gang of men provided with pails, and from the brook they filled the tank. It required more than 1,000 pails of water to water the engine. Dewer Woodman was grading the yard here at the time, and he turned out a hundred men with shovels to shovel out the engine and the road, and with the train crew returned to clear the track, while Superintendent Courser started on foot for North Stratford, sixteen miles, to procure a team to take him to Wild River, where a portion of a bridge had broken down into the river. In the meantime "Wash," with his gang of men, undertook to work his way through with his engine to Grove- ton. The track was so uneven with sudden elevations and depressions, that they were obliged to apply extraordinary steam power to get the engine up the elevations, and to hold it with the brakes while descending the depressions. The cut at Blackberry Hill was so insufficiently worked as to render the passage of an engine very difficult and dangerous, and they proceeded carefully though they expected to get off the track, but with great care they got safely through with the engine. When feeling safely through with the engine, they let her out, when the steam plough went off one side, and the engine struck for the woods on the other side. The plough turning, drew its connection across the legs of a man, cutting them both off. There they were, their provisions exhausted, hungry, chilled, almost dead from want of sleep, and one of their number mangled in a most horrible manner. Captain Everett got through to Groveton, procured a horse harnessed to a pung, with which he took the injured man to the village where medical aid was procured, while the men went on with the work of getting the engine on the track, and the road opened so that the trains could pass. This we should call railroading under difficulties.
The first conductors on passenger trains were T. O. Gould, and G. S. Waterhouse. Other conductors have been G. Stone, J. S. Pratt, D. Pratt, S. S. Stowell, A. B. Garland, G. H. Fickett, A. Letearte, D. W. Bowker, and W. Ladd.
Station agents at Stratford Hollow: Hiram Lucas, George Cummings for about one year; Hiram H. Wright, nine years; Reuben B. Marden, nine years; Fred N. Day, from 1872 until July, 1900; M. C. Shannahan, George E. Twohey, and W. H. Treffrey.
The first station agent at North Stratford was a quaint old sea captain from Yarmouth, Maine, Captain Porter. He re- mained but a few months. Lyman W. Alger succeeded him for
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